Simara Island

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Simara Island is an island in the province of Romblon in the Philippines. It has one municipality named Corcuera.

Geography

Like the legendary jade floating on an opalescent sea, 120 nautical miles southeast of Manila is Simara, the pride of Romblon isles. It is an elongated island formed by nature like a hook covering an area of 23.40 square kilometers. Its island name was derived from the local word "sima" which means hook. By area, it is the fifth island in a group of seven that comprises the marble province of Romblon and of course one of the 7,107 islands of the Philippines, the Eden of the East.

Simara lies on the northwestern coast of the province. It is hemmed in by bodies of water from all sides; on the north and east by the Sibuyan Sea, on the south by Tablas Strait and on the west by the sea that separates the municipality of Concepcion. It is located at 122046' north latitude and 36 kilometers from the Capital of the province. The name of its town which was formerly "San Jose" was later changed to Corcuera by the town's first Gobernadorcillo, after the name of the liberal Spanish Governor General of the Philippines, Jurtado de Corcuera. Corcuera, as a municipality, occupies the whole island of Simara. The topographical feature of the island municipality is generally hilly. The highest upland is 755 feet above sea level.

History

It was known that the ancestors of Simara were escapees from a group of Christian captives. When their Moslem captors were on return voyage to Sulu from the Southern Luzon provinces, their vessels were overtaken by a storm and they were forced to seek refuge to a narrow bay along a narrow strip of Suba Valley now called San Roque. The captives escaped toward Pidapi where they met the first few primitive families of Simara.

After the Moslems had sailed away, two groups of escapees moved further to a wider lowland. As years passed by, the population increased. Some families transferred to Guintiguiban which was absorbed by the barrio of Mabini and to the interior rugged highlands.

In the book entitled "Naming the Province of the Philippines", revealed that in the year 1500, there were 150 existing families in the community of San Jose. During the short sojourns of the three Malays in Simara, the "Asi" dialect, a mixture of local and Malayan term began to flourish as the vernacular vehicle of communication. This dialect soon developed into common language spoken not only in the island of Simara but also in its sister islands of Banton on the north and Sibale island on the northwest. This was so because the earlier inhabitants migrated to Banton and Sibale from Simara and later on to Calatrava, formerly Andagao, San Andres and Odiongan in Tablas island. This disproved the allegation of another historical writer that Bantoanons did found the settlement called San Jose which later became Corcuera.

How to Get There

The municipality is accessible to other municipalities by pumpboats. There are regular schedule of trips plying between Calatrava and Corcuera daily. Pumpboats leave Corcuera at 8:00 o'clock in the morning to Calatrava and return to Corcuera at 12:00 noon of the same day. Going to Romblon Capital, there is a special trip either Mondays or Fridays. Usually going to the Capital, people take pumpboat via Calatrava where jeepneys are available for San Agustin. In San Agustin, pumpboats are available for Romblon at 8:00 AM and 1:00 PM.

Communities

Originally, Simara had only 8 communities. Ilijan (derived from "Iligan" locally meant as a flowing source of water), Mainit (a locality with a hot spring), Guintiguiban (supposedly with chiseled source of water), Suba now San Roque, Mahaba (named for its long beach), and Alegria, formerly Bagaroyong. Today, Simara has 15 barrios with the addition of Poblacion, Ambulong, San Agustin before Sumabyay, Tacasan (landing of Moro pirates), Mabini, Gobon, San Vicente, Mangansag, Colong-Colong, and Labnig. Eleven of these are along the seacoast.

Source : www.Simara.com

"Mabuhay tanan nak Simaranhon!!"

Asi is the native language of the island's inhabitants.